This week in our mental health news roundup we look at an article about mental health during and after pregnancy, Emma Stone talks about CBT and Brad Pitt opens up about his divorce, struggles with alcohol addiction and finding himself with the help of therapy.
Brad Pitt reveals how therapy is helping him deal with his alcohol addiction and divorce
A lot of UK-based celebrities and public figures have been speaking out about their mental health struggles and the steps they’ve taken to overcome them – in fact we’ve seen a huge amount of celeb-led campaigns in recent months! But this week movie megastar Brad Pitt has taken part in a candid interview, which explains all kinds of details about how he’s suffered from various addictions and problems over the years:
“I’m really, really happy to be done with all of that. I mean, I stopped everything except boozing when I started a family. But even this last year, you know – things I wasn’t dealing with. I was boozing too much. It’s just become a problem. And I’m really happy it’s been half a year now, which is bittersweet, but I’ve got my feelings in my fingertips again. I think that’s part of the human challenge: You either deny them all of your life or you answer them and evolve.”
And not only has Brad revealed that he’s been dealing with a lot of problems and learning to ‘evolve’, but he’s been explaining how he’s been doing it and a big part has been down to therapy:
“You know, I just started therapy. I love it, I love it. I went through two therapists to get to the right one.”
81% of women experience a mental health problem during and after pregnancy
A new report has revealed that 81% of 2,300 UK women experienced at least one mental health problem during or after their pregnancy, whether that’s low mood, anxiety or depression. But the big question is: is enough really being done to help those who are struggling?
“Despite suicide being a leading cause of maternal death, perinatal mental health provision is still patchy, with some areas providing excellent services and others floundering with woefully inadequate systems that can damage women and their families. Only seven percent of those surveyed by RCOG were referred to a specialist care and some waited over a year for treatment.”
This piece from The Pool looks into the stats and aims to get people talking more about mental health problems during or after pregnancy.
Half of us aren’t happy to discuss mental health challenges at work
This week The BBC has brought up the tricky discussion about mental health problems and work, asking whether it’s right to explain problems to your employer and how to figure out the right time and the right thing to say.
Sue Baker, the director of the mental health charity Time to Change, suggests keeping quiet until you know your employer is supportive of mental health programmes because it could cause problems:
“It can result in people being passed over for promotion, not being offered opportunities to develop themselves, and to outright discriminatory comments,” she explained.
Emma Stone has revealed her anxiety struggles and how therapy has helped her
Another celebrity is helping to normalise mental health problems by opening up about her struggles and this week it’s La La Land’s Emma Stone. Emma has explained that she’s suffered from anxiety all her life:
“It’s always been something that I’ve lived with and flares up at different times in my life, but sometimes while it’s happening, like when I’m in a phase of real turmoil of the anxiety is very strong, it feels like it’s never going to end – and then it does.”
She’s also explained that one of the ways she’s learned to deal better with anxiety has been through CBT (that’s Cognitive Behavioural Therapy):
“There are so many tools you can learn for it that have led to me living a pretty normal, exciting and vibrant life.”
Thanks for checking out this week’s instalment of the UKTherapyGuide’s mental health news roundup. Come back next week for more of the latest news about counselling, therapy, mental health and some tips to make life easier for those suffering from mental health problems – whether you yourself are finding it hard to cope or a friend or relative needs some support.
